OLYMPIA – Washington will join other states pushing to have Internet and catalog companies collect and distribute sales taxes.
The state House on Friday voted 76-15 to authorize the state to join the project. The bill has already passed the Senate, so it now heads to Gov. Chris Gregoire’s desk.
Gregoire requested the measure and said in a statement Friday that she was pleased with its passage. She said it “levels the playing field between in-state and out-of-state retailers.”
According to the state Department of Revenue, more than 1,000 companies that sell products in multiple states have voluntarily agreed to begin collecting and distributing sales tax to any state that passes legislation to become a member of the Streamlined Sales Tax Project.
So far, 21 states have passed legislation to become full members of the project, said Cindi Holmstrom, the state Revenue Department director.
Poulsbo: Suspicious fire damages Wal-Mart
A suspicious fire at a Wal-Mart store caused more than $1 million in damage, the Poulsbo Fire Department estimated.
Most of the damage came from thick smoke that filled the store.
The fire started just before 9 p.m. Thursday in a rack of women’s undergarments. Employees kept the fire under control with extinguishers until firefighters arrived.
No injuries were reported.
The thieves probably hadn’t studied Buddhism.
If they had, they would have been too concerned about their karma to walk off with a Tibetan prayer wheel that hung in front of a yoga studio in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood.
“One thing everyone says is that it’s really bad karma to steal people’s prayers,” said yoga instructor Laura Yon-Brooks.
The 30-pound prayer wheel, which is worth about $400, had hung about two feet off the sidewalk on a wooden beam in front of the Planet Earth Yoga Center since 2004. Passers-by could spin the copper drum, which had prayers pressed on its side and a scroll of good thoughts inside.
Natural gas leak sickens teens at Seattle Center
Twenty-one teenagers and their teacher complained of dizziness Friday after a natural gas leak at the Seattle Center’s Center House, the Seattle Fire Department said.
Five students were taken to local hospitals as a precaution, but the other students and their teacher were OK, said Patti Spencer, a Seattle Public Schools spokeswoman.
Fire Capt. Reba Gonzales said the fire department believes one of the teens had turned on the gas in a chemistry classroom that was being used for a math class at the alternative high school that operates in the Center House.
Container ships operated by international carrier APL will burn low-sulfur diesel while moored here, the latest move to decrease air pollution from the big boats while they idle in West Coast ports.
The switch will eliminate about 30 tons of sulfur oxides and about 3.5 tons of particulate matter each year, John Bowe, president of APL Americas, said Friday.
Environmental, health and port officials praised the change, and said APL’s plan – which the port called the first of its kind in the Pacific Northwest – is an example of broader efforts to reduce air pollution at cargo terminals.
“It’s a ripple effect,” American Lung Association spokesman Paul Payton said. “The tide is definitely turning toward more maritime organizations changing to cleaner alternatives.”
Large container ships such as APL’s typically use diesel-burning auxiliary engines to run their electrical systems while in port.
Associated Press
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